Wheelchair-bound content creator Park We promote greater independence for people with disabilities
How does a young man react when he can't move his limbs overnight? When doctors say he broke his neck in a fall and will never be able to walk, move his legs or fingers again, what does a 28-year-old man who was celebrating his new job with friends at a club on a Saturday night say?
There are five classic stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—that most people go through.
However, Park We never accepted his defeat. He stated the dire prognosis of the doctors with this: "If God resurrects me, I will be able to stand. I will certainly stand."
I meet Park sitting in a wheelchair in the living room of the apartment where he lives with his parents. Sunlight streams in through the large windows that face the Han River to the south and floods the room, giving the Park a brilliant glow.
It has been almost nine years since that fateful day in May 2014, when he fell into a 5-meter ditch by the side of the road. In those years, Park has regained some movement in her arms and hands through rehabilitation efforts, defying doctors' dire predictions, and raises a mug of coffee brought by her mother to her lips.
I ask Park what he had for breakfast -- the BBC presenter is famous for asking all his interviewees this, and I thought I'd give it a try since it was still morning. "It was something simple, thank you." Oh, haven't you eaten? he said. I didn't expect to be asked.
His book prompted me to contact him for the interview.
Instagram's algorithm showed me your posts from time to time. I was impressed and moved by what he did. Tied to a wheelchair, he showed how disabled people can live more independently. Park's posts were in churches, gatherings, testifying, testifying of God's love.
When his book "Weracle: Miracle for All of Us" landed on my desk among the new books sent by publishers, I sent him a message.
When the message went unanswered for weeks, I thought, "Maybe it's not the right time." Then I stumbled upon a post that Park was suffering from severe bedsores. Without feeling her lower limbs, the bedsores went unnoticed until she saw the blood in the shower.
Weeks later, when Park's Instagram posts showed that she was almost fully recovered, I contacted her publisher, who said she was having dinner with her that night. A few hours later, Park called.
Bedsores are not to be taken lightly and you have been thoroughly warned of the potential dangers after suffering in the hospital.
"I can't say I'm fully recovered. It's been three months, but the skin around the wounds hasn't returned to its normal color. It gets darker if it sits for longer," he says.
To avoid bedsores, keep changing your position while sitting. "It's actually best not to sit or lie on the bed," he says, to minimize pressure on the skin. There is no treatment for bedsores other than removing the pressure and allowing the ulcers to heal over time.
He agrees that he has taken on a lot of work in recent months, such as publishing his book, giving lectures, and creating YouTube content.
Looking back, every day was a miracle, he says.
Park endured two months in the intensive care unit and six months of rehabilitation and occupational therapy in the hospital, with the love and support of her family and friends, about which she writes extensively in her book. Park's younger brother took time off from school to take care of her around the clock at the hospital. His friends fill the ward with jokes and laughter. His church members and ministers laid hands on him, covering every square inch of his body with their hands and prayers.
"I think I was brave because I was ignorant. I just thought that God willing, I would rise again," he says. "You may not believe it, but it was a happy time. I experienced things I had never experienced before. So many people, even people I didn't know, were cheering me on, worshiping," he says. "I've thought a lot about this kind of love," she says.
"I started thinking about passing on the love I received," he says. "I started to think that it would be nice if, even though I was in a wheelchair, I could give hope and courage to others."
When all that could be done medically, Park was discharged.
He was filled with dread on his way home. "My condition improved, but I couldn't practically do anything on my own," he says. But he needn't have worried. After he got home, his friends took turns visiting him and staying with him for the night, and helping him get settled at home. "Unlike the hospital, friends could visit without restriction," Park recalled in the months immediately after his release from the hospital.
While most people with paralysis stay in the hospital for an average of two years, Park says his relatively short hospital stay helped him acclimate to society more easily. "There are rehabilitation therapies that are done in the hospital, but there are also things that you learn on your own outside of the hospital that are part of the rehabilitation process," he says.
Four years ago, while attending a church outreach program in Japan, he announced that he was starting a YouTube channel. He had an epiphany that this would be the best way to meet a wide variety of people, not limited by time or space. "A week or two later, I got a call asking if I could model for a promotional video for Jeju Island Accessible Travel."
After that, he received several offers to shoot travel videos and eventually founded a YouTube content company. Today, Weracle has around 510,000 subscribers from all over the world. The videos range from practical wheelchair tips, such as how to get out of bed, to interviews with well-known personalities and people with disabilities. The videos focus on achieving greater independence.
The channel recently celebrated its fourth anniversary, and Park now has a new purpose.
Now that the pandemic is over, he wants to go out into the world and speak to people as a motivational speaker. He is already preparing by reading, learning English and opening up to more diverse experiences.
When he says he will rise again, what does he mean?
Does this include standing with mechanical devices? Much progress has been made in this area, I suggest.
"I want to go back to the way I was before the accident. When I was walking, running and playing football," he says without hesitation. "When I hope to walk again, that hope changes my attitude towards life," he says. "Such hope motivates my life and gives me positive energy." - he explains. "Every day is a miracle."
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